Pastor Jeff gave me these scriptures outlining the different levels of faith.
Weak faith (Romans 4:9; 14:1)
Lacking faith (1 Thess 3:10)
Little Faith (Matt 16:8; 14:31)
Seed Faith (Matt 17:20)
Increasing Faith (2 Cor 10:15)
Exceedingly Growing Faith (2 Thess 1:3)
Rich Faith (James 2:5)
Strong Faith (Romans 4:20)
Great Faith (Luke 7:9; Matt 8:10; 15:28)
Perfect Faith (James 2:22)
There are different levels of faith outlined in scripture. Faith needs to be obtained and built.
As I preached on Saturday, you obtain faith through the Word (Romans 10:17). You reach for the Word, listen to and apply inspired preaching and take part in sound teaching. You build your faith through prayer (Jude 1:20).
4/16/07
What a weekend
WOW! This is all I can say after experiencing what I experienced this weekend. It all started with our TVM High School and College age service on Saturday night. I preached a message on the door of fulfillment and how it is unlocked and opened with obedience. John 14 says if you love me obey my commandments. The point of my message was that if you fulfill the commands of Christ then you'll be fulfilled. The commands I was talking about are Baptism and Communion. After the alter call I challenged the young people to get baptized if they needed to. We did not announce the week before that we would be doing this, so it was completely spontaneous. 5 young people stood up and we sent them back to change (we had shorts, shirts and towels waiting). We then took communion together at the alter which was a somber and powerful moment. After communion I took the mic, walked over to the tube and began to talk some more as I took my shoes and socks off. I then got into the tub fully clothed and challenged those sitting down that needed to be in the tub to get over here fully clothed and get in. 11 people responded! This was my first time ever baptizing people and I got the opportunity to baptize my sister and her fiancé. Just thinking about it right now is getting me fired up and I probably won’t be able to sleep.
The story continues. This morning during first service Pastor Jeff Knight preached a similar message (we prepared them together) and we saw people respond like crazy. After he baptized those who had changes, he being fully clothed in the water, he put out the call to those still fully clothed and we saw such a powerful response I could not stop the tears from flowing. The next service was our Jr. High service, which had close to 30 students in it. I preached the same message as the night before and had an alter call. We prayed the prayer of salvation and I asked if this was anyone's first time. 6 kids stood up. That's 6 first time salvations! I then told them they needed to get baptized, so they went and changed. Like the night before I encouraged others to get baptized and 7 more students responded a total of 13. We all went over to the Worship Center and Pastor Jeff baptized the Jr. High students and the adults that were there. He asked for those fully clothed to come that needed to be baptized and again many came. It was unbelievable.
I was sitting next to a guy that was sitting next to his friend that just got saved the week before. He kept trying to get his friend to go up and get baptized, but he'd have none of it, so he turned to me and asked me to pray with him that God would work on his friend’s heart. We quietly did so, said amen and continued to watch. All of the sudden out of the corner of my eye there was his friend. He had snuck out and changed because God was working on his heart.
This weekend was incredible. God is doing amazing things at The Rock Church. I heard many people say they had never seen anything like it and I concur. There were eyes filled with tears, people standing and shouting for joy, and real life change happening at the waters of baptism. Today proves why all that we do is all about the weekend… because that is where all of our prayers and hard work produce a harvest in people’s lives. I love this place!
The story continues. This morning during first service Pastor Jeff Knight preached a similar message (we prepared them together) and we saw people respond like crazy. After he baptized those who had changes, he being fully clothed in the water, he put out the call to those still fully clothed and we saw such a powerful response I could not stop the tears from flowing. The next service was our Jr. High service, which had close to 30 students in it. I preached the same message as the night before and had an alter call. We prayed the prayer of salvation and I asked if this was anyone's first time. 6 kids stood up. That's 6 first time salvations! I then told them they needed to get baptized, so they went and changed. Like the night before I encouraged others to get baptized and 7 more students responded a total of 13. We all went over to the Worship Center and Pastor Jeff baptized the Jr. High students and the adults that were there. He asked for those fully clothed to come that needed to be baptized and again many came. It was unbelievable.
I was sitting next to a guy that was sitting next to his friend that just got saved the week before. He kept trying to get his friend to go up and get baptized, but he'd have none of it, so he turned to me and asked me to pray with him that God would work on his friend’s heart. We quietly did so, said amen and continued to watch. All of the sudden out of the corner of my eye there was his friend. He had snuck out and changed because God was working on his heart.
This weekend was incredible. God is doing amazing things at The Rock Church. I heard many people say they had never seen anything like it and I concur. There were eyes filled with tears, people standing and shouting for joy, and real life change happening at the waters of baptism. Today proves why all that we do is all about the weekend… because that is where all of our prayers and hard work produce a harvest in people’s lives. I love this place!
4/4/07
Working out?!
What am I thinking? I don’t really know, but I know that I need to get into shape. I gained 30 pounds last year and am struggling to keep up on the basketball court. Today was the third day of a workout and diet that my wife and I are doing. The workout program is called P90X (the x stands for extreme). The first day we did chest and back, it was crazy. It was full of pull ups and push ups and I don’t know that I have ever been sorer in my life. The next day we did plyometrics which is a jumping cardio exercise and I could only do 30 minutes out of 55, it’s intense. Today I got up at 6am with Gia and we worked our arms and shoulders. It is really hard and crazy. I have been limping around for three days in pain as my body attempts to recuperate. It’s a lot of fun but intense and the diet sucks :-). It’s a 90 day program, we’re three days in and in 87 days I will have a fine bod! Maybe… :-)
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